Railway refrigerator car structure



July 2, 194.6. E. R. BATTLEY ET AL RAILWAY REFRIGERATOR CAR STRUCTURE- Filed Jan. 26, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTORS R zazumzzaazzzey BY 6 02196510 603,

July 2, 1946;

E. R. BATTLEY ET AL RAILWAY REFRIGERATOR CAR STRUCTURE Filed Jan 2 Sheets-SheetZ Patented July 2, 1946 RAILWAY REFRIGERATOR CAR STRUCTURE Edwin E. Battley and George E. McCoy, Montreal, Quebec, Canada Application January 26, 1945, Serial No. 574,791

14 Claims.

The invention relates to railway refrigerator cars used to transport commodities requiring refrigeration in transit and especially to such cars used for commodities necessitating a temperature below thirty-two degrees during transportation, such as frozen foods, which require twelve degrees or less.

The invention is an improvement on Patent No. 2,136,999 of November 15, 1938 (called Top bunker car), wherein the refrigerant container is located adjacent the roof and one of the side walls of the car, and a drip pan is located below the refrigerant container to providean air cooling space therebetween and wherein the air in said space, being cooled by the refrigerant in the container, descends through flues associated with the side walls of the car and thence into a space provided below the lading and being warmed by the lading rises through the lading space to the cooling space where the cycle is repeated. Wet ice is used as the refrigerant when transporting commodities requiring not less than forty-five to fifty degree temperature, and salt is used with the ice to obtain brine when lower temperatures are required, the temperature of brine depending upon the amount of salt used30# salt to 100# of ice producing brine at about six degrees temperature.

When brine is used as the refrigerant a solid or imperforate refrigerant container (or tank, as it is called) is used to retain the brine in the container so as to get the full benefit of its heat absorbing capacity. Overflow holes are provided in said tank to limit the amount of brine therein and allow air to circulate over the brine, and a drain valve for cleaning the tank of debris and for inspection is provided.

It is a well known fact that salt in water accentuates corrosion of metal (particularly steel) in contact therewith, and experience has shown that brine with heavy salt solution (concentration) causes considerable corrosion of the flues in the walls and of the drip pan of the top bunker car, even though steel fines are galvanized.

Other more expensive coatings have also been tried but still themetallic flues corrode. Corrosion, of course, partially eats away the steel and when the steel flue sheet becomes thin in 7 spots, the jolting and constant movement of the car in service finishes the job and makes holes in the flue sheet. Water or brine flowing down the flue sheet passes through these holes into the insulation below the floor of the car and the insulation of the side wall of the car. Wet insulation is less efiicient as insulation than dry insulation. Furthermore, wet insulation, of course, means water held by the insulation and this water adds to the weight of the car and must be transported, which costs money.

As the brine has a temperature of zero or below and, therefore, has considerable capacity for heat absorption, it would be foolish to simply drain it outside of the car.

It is the primary object of this invention to obtain the advantages of the air and liquid circulating system, as defined in Patent No. 2,136,999, supra, and at the same time, confine the corrosion to a relatively small number of flues and a relatively small part of the partition (drip pan) thus materially reducing the maintenance cost of the refrigerator car, and increasing the length of time the refrigerator car remains in service without removing the flues. Maintenance repairs also keep the car temporarily out of service.

The confining of the corrosion is accomplished in this invention by allowing the overflow brine from the tank and preferably also the brine from the drain valve of the tank to contact only a very small part of the partition, and to flow through only a very few of the vertical side wall flues. (Such small part of the partition and such few flues will be protected as much as possible against corrosion.) Thus the air flowing over said part of the partition and said flue is further cooled by contact with the brine flowing over such part of the partition and through such flues.

The remaining portion of the partition and the remainder of the flues will be dry (except for a small amount of condensation) and, therefore, will not corrode. These are called dry flues and will be of relatively cheap construction.

As the wet flues and wet part of the partition are subject to corrosion we preferably design the associated parts of the car so that they are easily removable for inspection, cleaning, re-treating and, if necessary, replacement. The removability of these designedly wet parts decreases the time and labor necessary to inspect and/or repair the car.

So-called top bunker cars of the general design disclosed in Bonsall Patent No. 2,136,999, supra, are built with a series of brine refrigerating tanks near each side Wall of the car (four tanks on each side in a forty foot car) and a further modification of the invention is to place the overflow holes and the drain valve in the ends of adjacent tanks and put the web part of the partition (i. e., the part intended to receive overflow brine and drain brine) below the space between such adjacent tanks, and have the wet part of the partition, as well as the cool air between the tanks, communicate with a wet flue in the adjacent side wall of the car. Such an arrangement materially reduces the number of wet flues in the car, thus confining the corrosion to a very few flues and reducing initial cost and maintenance.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear in the following description thereof;

Referring now to the accompanying drawings forming part of this application and wherein like reference characters indicate like parts:

Figure 1 is a cross sectional view through one side of a refrigerator car of the type with which the invention is employed.

Figure 2 is a transverse cross sectional view on line 22 of Figure 3 at one side of a refrigerator car through the hatch openings thereof showing the wet part of the partition, the overflow holes, and drain plug from the tank as located under the hatch.

Figure 3 is a cross sectional view on the line 3-3 of Figure 2.

Figure 4 is a longitudinal cross sectional view through a side wall of the car and showing the novel arrangement of flues therein On line 44 of Figure 2.

Figure 5 is a view similar to Figure 3 of a modified form of the invention.

Figure 6 is a cross sectional view on the line 66 of Figure 5.

The invention is adaptable to a refrigerator car having spaced apart insulated side walls, one of which is shown at I an insulated roof 2; an insulated floor 3; a foraminous floor 4 above the floor 3 providing an air distributing space 6 between said foraminous floor and floor.

A liquid refrigerant container 1 is positioned below the roof and spaced slightly therefrom and the adjacent side wall to form an air circulating space 8-9 therebetween, Since our invention is designed particularly for use with water ice or brine as the refrigerating medium, these containers are of the solid type, provided only with the filling opening l0, overflow openings I ll2 and drain opening I3, provided with a removable stopper M. The hatch opening is provided with a plug 15, which, of course, is also provided with the usual locking and supporting mechanism, not shown. There is provided a row of refrigerant containers 1, longitudinally spaced, on each side of the car, as is indicated in Figure 3, and, of course, there is a hatch opening through the roof for each container, the containers being positioned so that the filling openings register with the adjacent hatch openings.

The side walls I of the car are constructed substantially as shown in Figure 4, wherein I6 is the outer sheathing I"! are the vertical outer side posts to which the sheathing is secured; I8 is the insulating material and I9 are the spaced Z- shaped vertical inner posts which are generally staggered relation to the outer posts I1, preferably occurring in a plane midway therebetween and which overlap wooden inner nailing posts 20 to which the inner sheathing 2!, preferably of plywood, is removably secured.

A metallic sheet 25, paneled substantially as shown in Figure 4 to provide vertical flues 26, is interposed between the posts l9-2ll and the inner sheathing 2| and is secured to said nailing posts 20. This sheet 25 is, of course, galvanized for the purpose of resisting the corrosive action of brine or other liquid solutions draining therethrough from the containers 1. They are sometimes, furthermore, covered with a coating highly resistant to the corrosive action of the liquid from the particular refrigerant used. Notwithstanding such protective measures these flue sheets 25 corrode much faster than other metal parts of the car without such protection.

The sheet 25 is, therefore, preferably made in sections, since it is an object .of the invention to confine the overflow and/or drain liquid from each tank to a certain flue only, and to accomplish this object there is shown a pair of vertical kerfs 29 within the inner faces of an adjacent pair of posts 28. The vertical edges of each flue sheet 25 are provided with outwardly extending flanges 30 which fit within said kerfs 29 and when the inner sheathin 2| is in place, of course, said flanges cannot be removed from the kerfs. Consequently, when any flue sheet needs replacing it may be removed independently of the others by simply first removing the inner sheathing.

A partition is shown at 35 which is positioned under the tanks 1 from end to end of the car, which partition is inclined from substantially the center of the car to and secured to the upper edge of the inner sheathing 2|. The inner edge of the partition is provided with an upstanding baflle 36 spaced from the inner side of the tank to provide a passageway 31 therebetween. The partition is also spaced below the tanks 1 to provide the space 38 which communicates with the passageway 31 and upper ends of the flues 26, thereby providing an air cooling chamber about the container or containers. Thus, as the air in the lading compartment 49 is warmed by the lading, it passes upwardly over the bafiie 35 into and through the passageways 37-38 and 8-9, downwardly through the flues 25, to the space 6, thence upwardly through the foraminous floor 4 to the lading compartment 40, when the cycle is repeated.

To assure the liquid or brine from the container being confined to a certain area or portion of the air cooling chamber 4| (893l-38), there is shown a pair of spaced vertical walls 42 which extend from the partition 35 to adjacent the roof 2 (see Figures 2 and 3) (or at least to above the escape holes Il-I2) and transversely of the car from the baiile 36 to the car side wall (See Figure 2), said walls 42 being cut out to flt about the tank 1. The spacing of the Walls 42 is substantially the width of the Wet flue 43, as shown in Figure 4., and consequently the space between the said walls 42 communicates only with said wet flue and prevents any moisture th'erein from getting into any of the dry flues 26. The overflow holes Hl2, drain l3 or other apertures for escape of liquid from the container are located in the portion of the tank between said walls 42, thus effectively confining any overflow or drain to the area of said partition between said vertical walls and to said wet flue 43.

As before inferred the portion 45 of the partition 35 between the walls is preferably provided with a waterproof and corrosion resisting lining 46 which is made easily removable from the remainder so that it may readily be replaced when necessary. (See Figure 3.) Inasmuch as the remainder of the partition is not subject to moisture it may be made of any cheap and light material, such as plywood.

To protect the inner sheathin 2|, adjacent the Wet flue 43, from the corrosive action of such liquid, it will be noted that there is provided a flue lining 50 which likewise is of a material highly resistant to corrosive action of the brine 5 and this fine lining 50 may be welded atits vertical edges to the sides of the sheet forming the flue '43 and extends from immediately under the tom of the lading, thus the plyrv'cod partition 45 and inner sheathin :2l are entirely protected from any moisture, thereby lengtl'iening the average life of such material, saving costly tie-ups for maintenance, repairs, etc.

In Figure 5 we have shown a modification wherein the walls so are located at or near the adjacent ends of a pair of tanks 1, and the overfiow holes iii and drain valves 52 are located in the end walls of said tanks or adjacent thereto.

Th'us the-overflow and/or drain from the tanks is confined to the area of the partition 63 which is under the space between the tanks and between the walls 66. Consequently, it will be apparent that one wet area of the partition 63 draining into one Wet flue 43 will be all that is required for each pair of tanks, whereas in the modification previously described, there would be provided such an area and flue for each tank.

The plug It for the drain openin i3 is provided with a chain or other convenient means of raising same from the openin when desired to drain the tank or for other purposes.

The accompanying drawings illustrate the preferred form of the invention, though it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the exact details of construction shown and described, as it is obvious that various modifications thereof, within the scope of the claims, will occur to persons skilled in the art.

We claim:

1. In a refrigerator car having an insulated Wall and a roof, a liquid refrigerant container adjacent said roof and said wall, a partition spaced below said container forming an air cooling chamber therebetween, said container having apertures to provide for the escape of liquid from said container, a plurality of vertically disposed flues associated with said wall communicating with said air cooling chamber, and means to confine liquid from said container within a portion only of said air cooling chamber and conduct it into certain of said fiues only.

2. In a refrigerator car having an insulated wall, a roof, and a floor, a liquid refrigerant container adjacent said roof and said Wall, a partition spaced below said container forming an air cooling chamber therebetween, said container having apertures to provide for the escape of liquid from said container, a foraminous lading supporting means spaced from said floor providing an air distributing space; a plurality of vertically disposed lines associated with said wall communicating with said air cooling chamber and said air distributing space, and means to confine liquid from said container within a portion only of said air cooling chamber and conduct it into certain of said flues only.

3. In a refrigerator car having an insulated wall, and a roof, a lquid refrigerant container adjacent said roof and said wall, a partition spaced below said container forming an air cooling chamber 'therebetween, said container having apertures to provide for the escape of liquid from said container, a plurality of vertically disposed removable flues associated with said wall communicating with said air cooling chamber, and means to confineliquid from said container within a portion only of said air cooling chamber and conduct it into certain of said flues only,

said certain flues being removable independently of the other fiues.

4. In a refrigerator car having a roof provided with a hatch; a liquid refrigerant container adjacent the roof and provided with a filling opening registering with said hatch; a partition partially enclosing said container forming an air cooling chamber about said container, spaced walls dividing said chamber into a plurality of portions, said container provided with apertures located between .said walls'to provide for the escape of liquid from said container, whereby liquid from said container is confined to the portion between-said walls.

5. In a refrigerator car having a roof provided with a hatch, an insulated wall provided with 1 a plurality of fines associated therewith, a liquid container adjacent the roof and provided with a filling opening registering with said hatch; .a partition partially enclosing said container forming an air cooling chamber about said container, spaced walls dividing said chamber into" a plurality of portions, said container provided with apertures located between said walls to provide for the escape of liquid from said container, whereby liquid from said container is confined to the portions between said walls, said last mentioned portion communicating with certain of said flues only. i

6. The structure substantially as set forth in claim 4 wherein said apertures are located in the portion of the tank below the hatch for convenient access thereto. 7

'7. In a refrigerator car having a roof provided with hatches, a pair of liquid refrigerant containers adjacent thereof and provided with filling openings registering with said hatches respectively, a partition partially enclosing said containers forming an air cooling chamber about said containers, spaced walls dividing said chamber into a plurality of portions, one of said portions overlapping the ends of adjacent containers, apertures located in the end portions of adjacent containers between said walls to provide for the escape of liquid from said containers, whereby liquid from said containers is confined to the portion between said walls.

8. In a refrigerator car having a roof provided with hatches, an insulated wall provided with a plurality of vertically disposed lines associated therewith, a pair of liquid refrigerant containers adjacent the roof and provided with filling openings registering with said hatches respectively, a partition partially enclosing said containers forming an air cooling chamber about said containers communicating with said fiues; spaced walls dividing said chamber into a plurality of portions, one of said portions overlapping the ends of adjacent containers, apertures located in the end portions of adjacent containers between said walls to provide for the escape of liquid from said containers, whereby liquidfrom said con-v tainers is confined to the portion between said walls, said last named portion communicatim: with certain of said flues only.

9. In a refrigerator car having an insulated.

wall provided with a plurality of vertically disposed flues associated therewith, a liquid refrigerant container adjacent the upper part of said wall, means to direct liquid from said container into certain of said flues, and a flue lining secured wall, a liquid refrigerant container adjacent the upper part of said wall, a foraminous false floor arranged to provide an air distributing space 'therebelow, a metallic sheet formed with a panel providing a vertical flue associated with said wall and arranged to conduct air and liquid from adjacent said container to said space; a metallic flue lining spanning said panel and secured to said sheet to close said flue and confine the corrosive action of said liquid to said flue, the

lower margin of said flue lining being angularly disposed to form a b'aflle or shield to prevent liquid splashing through said foraminous floor.

12. A partition for partially enclosing a liquid refrigerant container of a railway refrigerator car, said partition having means to confine liquid from said container to a certain area of said partition, and a waterproof and corrosion resisting lining for said certain area, said lining being removable.

13. A partition for partially enclosing a liquid refrigerant container of a railway refrigerator car, said partition having means to confine liquid from said container to a oertain'area of said partition, and a waterproof and corrosion resisting lining for said certain area, said lining being removably associated with said means.

14. In a refrigerator car having a roof, at liquid refrigerant container adjacent the roof; a partition partially enclosing said container forming an air cooling chamber about said container, spaced walls dividing said chamber into a plurality of portions, said container provided with apertures located between said walls to provide for the escape of liquid from said container, whereby liquid from said container is confined to'the portion between said walls.

EDWIN R. BA'I'ILEY. GEORGE E. MCCOY. 

